Monarchs finish 11-0

Published: Saturday, October 27, 2012 at 10:30 AM.

Northside coach Bob Eason was his usual reserved self.

After leading the Monarchs to a 21-14 victory over East Duplin on Friday night that gave Northside the East Central 2-A Conference title, Eason stood on the field with a soda in hand, displaying no emotion whatever.

A conference title and an undefeated regular season is nothing new to him.

Thanks to the victory, Northside recorded its fourth 11-0 regular-season mark in program history as well as winning its fourth
ECC
title.

Still, this conference crown and unbeaten mark meant a lot to Eason.

“It’s unexpected,” he said. “When you look, we had too many guys who hadn’t had a lot of playing time. We were real inexperienced … so this makes it sweeter.”

This marked the second consecutive ECC title for the Monarchs (11-0, 6-0), ranked second in The Associated Press state 2-A poll. Northside now looks to advance deep in the playoffs.

After leading the Monarchs to a 21-14 victory over East Duplin on Friday night that gave Northside the East Central 2-A Conference title, Eason stood on the field with a soda in hand, displaying no emotion whatever.

A conference title and an undefeated regular season is nothing new to him.

Thanks to the victory, Northside recorded its fourth 11-0 regular-season mark in program history as well as winning its fourth ECC title.

Still, this conference crown and unbeaten mark meant a lot to Eason.

“It’s unexpected,” he said. “When you look, we had too many guys who hadn’t had a lot of playing time. We were real inexperienced … so this makes it sweeter.”

This marked the second consecutive ECC title for the Monarchs (11-0, 6-0), ranked second in The Associated Press state 2-A poll. Northside now looks to advance deep in the playoffs.

The NCHSAA will release its playoff pairings today, and the Monarchs hope to have a top seed in the East bracket. Northside beat East Duplin 41-30 last year to also secure the ECC title in the regular-season finale.

“This means everything,” said Northside senior Dewayne Johnson, who rushed for a pair of second-half touchdowns. “People doubted us for so long saying we wouldn’t make it, but now we are undefeated. We want that ring on our finger.”

And seventh-ranked East Duplin (9-2, 6-1) also wanted a conference title, although the Panthers came up short in their quest after yielding a 29-yard touchdown run to Johnson with 6:18 left in the game.

“Our guys played hard and that’s all we can ask for them to do,” East Duplin coach Battle Holley said. “In a tight ballgame, you can’t make the mistakes we made. Hopefully we will have a good week of practice, take care of business and go from there. If we take care of business, we can play on this field in three weeks.”

Trailing 14-6 at halftime, Northside rallied with a pair of long touchdown drives.

The second was an 80-yard, 13-play drive that lasted 7:42 and capped off by Johnson’s 29-yard run to give the Monarchs a 21-14 lead. Northside converted on a fourth-and-short and two third downs on the drive.

“They (Panthers) can’t score if they don’t have the ball,” Eason said. “I was just thinking we needed to score, but when it goes down like that, it certainly is nice because it puts the other team in panic mode.”

East Duplin appeared ready to respond with a touchdown, but a run by the Dijon Poole on fourth-and-5 from the Northside 28-yard line was a foot short. The Monarchs got the ball back at its own 24 with 2:04 left.

The Panthers did have one final possession but turned the ball over on downs, giving the Monarchs a close win, something Northside hasn’t had this season.

“I was concerned about that,” Eason said.

The Northside coach was also worried about how his squad would respond facing a 14-6 deficit. However, the Monarchs opened the third quarter by getting a 49-yard touchdown run from Johnson that capped a 72-yard drive.

Courtney Piatt’s pass to Trey Eason on the ensuing 2-point conversion tied the game at 14-14.

“They (Panthers) beat us in all phases of the game, defense, special teams and offense in the first half,” coach Eason said. “In the second half we needed to beat them in all three phases. We were a little down at the half, but to come back and score and get the 2-point conversion, that made a huge difference.”

The offenses proved to be the best defenses for the two teams.

Thanks to its two long touchdown possessions after halftime, Northside limited East Duplin to 23 second-half plays after the Panthers ran 34 in the first half.

Down 6-0 in the first quarter, East Duplin had a 16-play, 80-yard drive that lasted 8:16 and was capped by a 1-yard touchdown run by Monquel Baker. Poole, who finished with 158 yards rushing on 26 carries, added a 47-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.

“That’s what we had to do,” Holley said. “The offense had to drive and control the clock.”

Conversely, the Monarchs ran 27 second-half plays, compared to 16 in the first half.

The 16 plays was somewhat misleading, however. The Panthers fumbled on the first possession of the game, resulting in a 24-yard fumble return for a touchdown by Northside’s Markel Jones that made it 6-0.

The Monarchs’ offense didn’t see the field until 2:26 left in the first quarter.

“In the first half we didn’t have the ball but three times,” Eason said. “It’s hard to score and get into a rhythm and do stuff. Credit East Duplin.”

Yet Northside managed to get things going offensively in the second half. Johnson finished with 136 yards on 25 carries.

“The message at halftime was that we were playing soft,” Johnson said. “We had to turn it up and do what we had to do to get to 11-0.”

Johnson was particularly motivated not to get outdone by Poole. The two backs took turns making big runs for their teams.